


At First Fight

by Chandrian



Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Season/Series 02
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-24
Updated: 2018-10-24
Packaged: 2019-08-06 23:13:22
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,316
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16396922
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chandrian/pseuds/Chandrian
Summary: When Spike offers to help Buffy defeat Angelus, she is understandably skeptical. But her feelings change when they join forces for the first time in front of 1630 Revello...





	At First Fight

Buffy was careful to keep at least one eye on Spike as they made their way to her house. The platinum vampire  _ claimed  _ that he was willing to ally himself with Buffy in order to stop Angel-- _ Angelus, don’t forget it’s Angelus now _ \--but she still didn’t trust him farther than she could throw him. Which was, admittedly, probably really far. 

Outside 1630 Revello, Spike said, “Oh this is your house? It’s right nice, I’ve seen it while hunting in this here neighborhood.”

Buffy spared Spike a sarcastic smile as she said, “Gee, that’s a sure way to win my trust, telling me you’ve been hunting my neighbors.”

Spike looked nonplussed for a second before he belatedly remembered their “alliance”. “Oh. Right. Sorry.”

He didn’t sound very sorry.

With a squeal of tires, a familiar car screeched to a halt in the Summers’ driveway, as Joyce came home. 

_ Shit _ .

“Buffy!” called Joyce as she jumped out of the car, leaving the driver door wide open. “Where have you been? The police were here, they said a girl’s been killed--”

“Mom,” Buffy interrupted, trying to pull her mom toward the door.

“--and who is this man?” Joyce asked, gesturing at the leather-clad Spike. 

_ Great, first Angel, now Spike _ …

“Ha! What, your mum doesn’t know?” asked Spike with undisguised glee in his voice. 

This time she didn’t even have time to glare at him as Joyce said, “Know what?”

Buffy’s brain scrambled for an answer. Now was not the time to tell her mom that she was the vampire slayer. “Uh that I’m in a band. A rock band! With Spike here.” She gestured stupidly at Spike. 

Fortunately, Spike seemed willing to keep her secret as he said, “Right, she plays the uh triangle--”

“Drums!” said Buffy simultaneously, before cursing inwardly.

“--drums. Yeah, she’s uh hell on the old skins,” finished Spike rather lamely. Buffy cast a disbelieving look at him.  _ Hell on the old skins _ ? Clearly his punk rocker look wasn’t just a look.

“Buffy, what is going on?” Joyce stared at her with a hint of mania in her gaze, as though Buffy was falling apart before her very eyes.

“Mom, not now, we have to get inside,” said Buffy as she tried to pull her mother toward the front door, but Joyce resisted. 

“Yes,  _ now _ , Buffy!” Joyce huffed and pulled her arm free. “What is this about a girl dying? They said that you--”

There was the barest hint of a warning from her Slayer senses as a vamp stepped out of the shadows of her porch and pushed Joyce roughly aside. Buffy didn’t have time to think before she sprang into action, viciously kicking the vamp back away from her mother as she simultaneously shoved her mother off the front steps, away from danger. As though he’d anticipated her strikes, Spike was right there as the vamp spun from Buffy’s kick, blows landing with sickening thuds as Buffy pulled out a stake. She barely registered that it was Kendra’s stake--Mr. Pointy--as Spike seemed to sense that she was ready, punching the vamp so hard that he spun around to face Buffy, right as she brought her stake down into his heart. 

Buffy watched as the mystery vamp exploded in a puff of dust, revealing Spike on the other side. He was grinning from the thrill of the fight, teeth bared in joy, fists still curled from his punches. Buffy felt exhilaration swell up suddenly inside her, a rush she hadn’t felt since fighting side by side with Angel, except this seemed somehow  _ more _ . 

Before she could process this new feeling any further, Joyce spoke from behind her. “Wha--what was that?”

With a weak smile, Buffy turned slowly and met her mother’s astonished eyes. “Heh. Right. Uh…vampire?” she offered into the face of Joyce’s utter bewilderment.

Joyce did little more than stutter as Spike said, “Slayer, we should get inside. Could be more of them.”

“Yeah. Right. Inside. Mom--?” But Joyce seemed to be stuck in confusion mode, because she didn’t respond except to blink rapidly at the place where the vamp had poofed. So Buffy gently pulled her mother up the steps, nodding to Spike when he took her mother’s other arm. She pushed her mother through the door once she got it open and continued in after her. 

There was an awkward cough from behind her. “Uh, care to invite me in, Slayer?”

Spike stood on the threshold, grimacing in discomfort as his hands prodded at the barrier to her home. 

“Oh, right.” She felt the barest flicker of uncertainty as she looked at the leather-clad vampire before the memory of the fight they’d just shared came back to her, along with the feeling of...rightness that had accompanied it. “Come in, Spike.”

She could always get Willow to uninvite him later.

With a swish of leather Spike stepped over the doorsill, and looked around as Buffy led her mother to the couch, settling her down carefully. Joyce was still in shock, apparently. Spike followed her into the living room and settled down into a chair, saying, “Quaint, this.”

“Thanks,” Buffy replied, barely withholding a hint of sarcasm. “I’ll be right back, I have to get some stuff. Just, uh, watch her, okay?”

Spike gave a mock salute as Buffy left the room. She was leaving her mother alone with Spike, Spike who had tried to kill her on more than one occasion. Again the memory of the fight on the porch came back to her, but she shook her head and went to gather her weapons from her bedroom. 

Buffy was able to putter around for a minute or so before she slowed to a stop, gazing at Mr. Pointy in her hands. Kendra was dead. Buffy had been too late to see who or how, but she suspected Drusilla. With just a single wound on her, that deadly slice across her throat, it couldn’t have been anyone else. Giles had mentioned--

Giles. He was gone. Taken. And it was her fault. Tears crept out of her eyes and tracked down her cheeks. 

“You alright, Slayer?”

Buffy quickly wiped her cheeks and turned. Spike was standing in her doorway, just as he’d stood at the front door waiting for an invitation. 

“Fine,” she said, instantly frustrated that her voice sounded choked. She stepped over to her weapons bag and tucked Mr. Pointy inside. “My mom--?”

“Is still down on the couch,” Spike said calmly. “Keeps mutterin’ under her breath about how her daughter isn’t crazy after all.”

Buffy’s heart leapt to her throat at these words, but she fought it back down. She pulled holy water out of her vanity and tucked it alongside Mr. Pointy.

“We make a good team, you and I,” said Spike, leaning against her door frame. “I’ve killed two Slayers, but I’ve never fought  _ with  _ one. Bit of a rush, if I’m bein’ honest.”

She saw again in her mind the moment when Spike had spun the vamp around just as she was ready to stake it. It was as if he could read her mind, anticipate her moves perfectly. She remembered staring into his face as the vamp dissolved between them, saw the glint in his eyes, and the hint of his tongue behind his teeth. Buffy’s heart thudded against her will, as heat pooled inside her in a way it hadn’t since--

Eyes wide, Buffy turned hastily away from Spike, roughly pulling more weapons from the drawers. “Don’t get your hopes up, it doesn’t change the fact you’ve tried to kill me and my friends.”

She heard leather rustle and guessed that Spike had shrugged. “Suit yourself, Slayer. Just sayin’ that maybe our little truce isn’t such a bad idea after all.”

“Yeah,” Buffy said scathingly, trying to ignore the heat that was still gathering inside her. “We’ll see about that.”

 


End file.
